1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a container and an administration set for administering parenteral fluids and more particularly concerns a variable-volume vented container and a parenteral fluid administration set for the administration of parenteral solutions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Parenteral solutions are routinely administered in patient therapy. A common example is the intravenous solution, such as sterile water or 5% dextrose in water, which is normally gravity fed into the patient's venous system from a bottle or bag reservoir through a transparent drip chamber, which provides visual evidence of the rate of flow of the solution, through a length of tubing into a needle or catheter, which is placed into the patient. An adjustable clamp is placed on the tubing and is used to deflect the tubing and change the flow rate of the solution.
Intravenous solutions contained in rigid bottles are commonly used with a vented adapter which has structure for establishing fluid communication with the interior of the bottle and usually includes a one-way valve which will allow air into the bottle to replace the liquid which has run out of the bottle through the I.V. tubing into the patient. Also, a filter is often provided to filter out airborne particles and possibly bacteria from the venting air entering the bottle through the valve. Such an adapter is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 2,668,533 to Evans.
If the bottle containing the intravenous solution includes venting structure, the adapter does not require a one-way valve or a filter, however, it will still include structure for providing a direct conduit from the interior of the bottle to the drip chamber as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,884,924 to Shaw. Also, if the I.V. solution is contained in a flexible bag an adapter without venting capacity may be used.
Most I.V. administration sets include a specific adapter for connection to a reservoir, a flexible transparent drip chamber, tubing, a clamp on the tubing, a "Y" site having a pierceable septum so that a secondary I.V. set can be attached, and an injection needle or catheter. Secondary intravenous setups usually include a smaller container or reservoir for administering medication such as antibiotics and vitamins. Secondary I.V. administration sets usually include an appropriate adapter, a flexible drip chamber, tubing and a needle cannula for piercing the septum at the "Y" site and establishing fluid communication with the primary I.V. set. In some secondary setups where flow rate is not critical, medication is injected directly into the I.V. line, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 2,999,499 to Willet. More commonly, however, the secondary setup includes another flexible or rigid container for the medication, as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,756 to Urquhart et al.
Secondary intravenous medication containers are routinely prepared by the hospital pharmacy using specialized equipment and procedures which are sometimes unique for the secondary I.V. reservoirs. Some of the components such as, flexible reservoir bags, are expensive and some of the procedures are time consuming.
However, hospital pharmacies routinely fill syringes with liquid medication. The syringe is a low cost container and the equipment, such as a pipetter, and valve and tube sets, are readily available and easy to use efficiently. Quest Medical, Inc. of Carrollton, Texas presently markets an adapter similar to that taught by Evans in U.S. Pat. No. 2,668,533 referred to hereinabove. This adapter includes a filter and a one-way valve and a female luer fitting which allows the use of an ordinary disposable syringe as an I.V. container. The syringe is less expensive than other commercially available containers and is easily prepared by the hospital pharmacy. The cost of this secondary setup including the syringe is comparable to other secondary I.V. setups, however, savings may be achieved when more than on syringe is used with the same I.V. set.
Various parenteral solution reservoirs, such as vented and non-vented bottles, bags and syringes, and various I.V. setups some including one-way valves and filters and various other features have been addressed by the prior art, as alluded to above. However, there is still a need for a simple, straightforward, reliable, easily fabricated parenteral solution container which can be easily filled in a hospital pharmacy and can be used with a simple inexpensive I.V. administration set which does not include valves and filters.